For British exporters, the era of predictable margins is effectively over. As we settle into 2026, the compounding pressures of new trans-Atlantic trade tariffs and the erratic fluctuation of Sterling are forcing Finance Directors to tear up their old operational playbooks.
In this unforgiving environment, relying on legacy banking infrastructure to handle cross-border payments is no longer just an inefficiency—it is an active threat to profitability. To maintain competitiveness in non-traditional markets, switching to a dedicated multi currency business account is becoming the first line of defence for forward-thinking SMEs.
The “Hidden Tax” on British Exports
The core problem facing UK businesses isn’t just the exchange rate headline figure; it is the friction and opacity involved in moving money through the traditional banking system. For decades, High Street banks have treated foreign exchange (FX) as a profit centre rather than a utility.
Consider a Nottingham-based manufacturer importing components from Shenzhen or exporting services to Berlin. The “standard” bank spread of 2.5% to 3.5% on every transaction acts as a hidden tax on growth. On a £50,000 invoice, a 3% spread erases £1,500 from the bottom line—often wiping out the net margin gain from a hard-won contract negotiation.
In 2026, when supply chain inflation is already squeezing profits, donating percentage points to banking intermediaries is unjustifiable. The disparity between the interbank rate and what an SME actually pays often determines whether a growing export division is profitable or merely breaking even.
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The Strategy of Natural Hedging
The most effective strategy for the coming year is operational diversification. With the US market facing potential protectionist hurdles, UK firms are aggressively pivoting East—towards the UAE, Singapore, and emerging Asian markets. However, venturing into these territories brings complex currency headaches that simple spot-transfers cannot solve.
This is where the concept of “natural hedging” becomes critical. Instead of constantly converting revenue back into Sterling, smart businesses are keeping funds in their native currency to pay local suppliers later.
To execute this, the operational agility of a modern multi currency business account becomes the differentiator. By holding balances in local currencies—be it AED, SGD, or EUR—businesses can pay suppliers like a local entity. For instance, revenue earned in Euros from a client in France can be held in a Euro-denominated IBAN and used directly to pay a logistics partner in Germany three weeks later. This completely eliminates the FX risk and conversion fees on those funds, a tactic that was previously available only to large multinationals with complex treasury departments.
Speed as a Supply Chain Currency
Beyond the mathematics of exchange rates, there is the issue of velocity. Cash flow remains king, but in the volatile climate of 2026, liquidity speed is queen.
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Waiting three to five days for a SWIFT transfer to clear is an operational lag that modern supply chains can no longer tolerate. If your competitor in Germany can settle an invoice with a supplier in Vietnam instantly using fintech rails, and you are stuck waiting for a correspondent bank in New York to approve a wire transfer, you are at a disadvantage. Suppliers in high-demand markets prioritise buyers who pay fast and in the correct currency.
Modern fintech solutions have normalised instant or same-day settlement, even across borders. A payment that arrives instantly, in the supplier’s local currency, without intermediary bank deductions, builds immense trust. In a supply chain disrupted by geopolitical tension, being the “easy-to-work-with” partner often secures priority status for inventory and shipping.
The CFO’s Audit Checklist for 2026
If your business is still operating with a single GBP-denominated account for international trade, your infrastructure is likely leaking value. It is time to audit your banking stack against the realities of the current market:
Audit Your Real Effective Rate: Don’t just look at the fee per transfer. Compare the exchange rate your bank gives you against the live market mid-market rate. Calculate the annualised cost of that spread across your total export volume.
Capability to Hold Foreign Revenue: If you receive payment in US Dollars or Euros, does your bank force an immediate auto-conversion to Sterling? If so, you are losing the ability to hedge naturally.
Deployment Speed: If a sudden opportunity arises in a new market—say, Brazil or Saudi Arabia—can you generate local account details instantly to receive funds, or does it require weeks of paperwork?
The economy of 2026 rewards precision and speed. While British SMEs cannot control global tariffs or the whims of the forex market, they can control their financial infrastructure. Moving away from rigid legacy banking towards flexible fintech solutions is the smartest, most cost-effective hedge a business can make this year.
Fractal Analytics on Friday said it has raised Rs 1,249 crore from anchor investors ahead of its proposed initial public offering (IPO), after allotting 1,38,69,499 equity shares to 52 anchor investors at the upper end of the price band of Rs 900 per share.
The IPO will open for public subscription on Monday, February 9, and close on Wednesday, February 11. The price band has been fixed at Rs 857 to Rs 900 per equity share of face value Rs 1 each, with a minimum bid lot of 16 equity shares.
Out of the total anchor allocation, 52,77,680 equity shares (38.05%) were allotted to 11 domestic mutual funds through a total of 22 schemes, indicating strong participation from domestic institutions.
The anchor book witnessed demand from several leading mutual funds including SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund, UTI Mutual Fund, Trust Mutual Fund, Bandhan Mutual Fund, Invesco Mutual Fund, Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund, and Sundaram Mutual Fund, among others.
The issue also drew strong interest from global investors, including marquee long-only and institutional names such as Morgan Stanley Investment Funds and Goldman Sachs Bank Europe, along with Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging Markets Funds, Jupiter Global Fund, Societe Generale – ODI, Flumen Investment Trust, Optimix Wholesale Global Emerging Markets Share Trust, Neo Prime Fund, and Neo Secondaries Fund, among others. Fractal Analytics describes itself as India’s first pure-play artificial intelligence company and a global provider of AI-powered analytics and decision science solutions to Fortune 500 companies, enabling enterprises to unlock business value through advanced data science, artificial intelligence and deep domain expertise.The IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 1,023 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) aggregating up to Rs 1,810 crore. The OFS is being undertaken by existing shareholders including Quinag Bidco Ltd, TPG Fett Holdings Pte., Satya Kumari Remala, Rao Venkateswara Remala, and GLM Family Trust. The issue also includes an employee reservation portion of up to Rs 600 million.
Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, Morgan Stanley India Company, Axis Capital, and Goldman Sachs (India) Securities are the book running lead managers to the offer.
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss crypto regulation, market innovation and efforts to keep U.S. financial leadership onshore.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced enforcement actions against stocks it suspects are involved in “pump-and-dump” or “ramp-and-dump” schemes tied to foreign-based companies, including entities with operations in China. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the agency is intensifying its crackdown on these manipulative practices to protect U.S. investors.
In September 2025, the SEC announced the formation of a Cross-Border Task Force within its Division of Enforcement to investigate potential violations of U.S. securities laws by foreign-based companies, including market manipulation. Atkins said the agency began investigating one such case as recently as last week.
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Atkins said the SEC has seen a rise in so-called “ramping-and-dumping” schemes, in which prices are artificially inflated before insiders sell their shares at elevated levels. These manipulative practices can leave retail investors with significant losses.
Paul Atkins, chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), prior to a Bloomberg Television interview in Washington, DC, US, on July 18, 2025 (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Especially it’s some East Asia, China-related, companies where they’re small, kind of penny stocks on Nasdaq,” said Atkins Friday on “Mornings with Maria.”
Atkins pointed to a recent investigation involving a New York Stock Exchange-listed company, where trading was halted after the firm failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for a sudden spike in its stock price.
He said the company informed regulators that it had no material news or information that would explain the unusual rise in its stock price.
Paul Atkins, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, speaks at the New York Stock Exchange in New York on Dec. 2, 2025. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“So we halted that. New York Stock Exchange is investigating it. So hopefully, you know, we’ll get to the bottom of that,” he added.
The SEC’s Cross-Border Task Force announced it would focus on “investigating potential U.S. federal securities law violations related to foreign-based companies,” including market manipulation schemes like pump-and-dump and ramp-and-dump. It also will scrutinize gatekeepers such as auditors and underwriters that assist these companies in accessing U.S. capital markets.
Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins wears a hat reading “Make IPOs Great Again” on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on Dec. 2, 2025. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
“We welcome companies from around the world seeking access to the U.S. capital markets,” said Atkins during the task force announcement.
“But we will not tolerate bad actors – whether companies, intermediaries, gatekeepers or exploitative traders – that attempt to use international borders to frustrate and avoid U.S. investor protections,” he continued.
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SEC Chairman Paul Atkins joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ at the NYSE to discuss the rise of digital trading, the shift on Wall Street, and why U.S. markets remain the world’s benchmark.
Daniel is an avid and active professional investor.
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Political judgement matters to markets as much as it does to voters. As fresh revelations from the Epstein files trigger police interest and intensify scrutiny of Peter Mandelson’s role in public office, the controversy is fast becoming a wider test of Labour’s credibility in government.
In this exclusive commentary for Business Matters, former Downing Street strategist Alastair Campbell reflects on how a story once seen as historical embarrassment has evolved into a live political risk, and why the consequences for Keir Starmer’s leadership could be profound.
Fresh revelations linking Peter Mandelson to Jeffrey Epstein have escalated rapidly from a troubling disclosure into a full-blown political crisis for the Labour government, raising urgent questions about judgement, accountability and leadership at the top of British politics.
In the days since the latest tranche of Epstein files was published, two issues have come to dominate the debate in the UK: whether Mandelson could face criminal investigation for misconduct in public office, and whether Keir Starmer can weather the political fallout from appointing him as Britain’s ambassador to the United States, despite his known association with the convicted paedophile.
The intensity with which those questions are now being asked underlines how precarious the situation has become for Labour. What might once have been dismissed as historical embarrassment has morphed into a live test of political judgement and ethical standards at the heart of government.
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For many observers, the shock lies not only in the scale of Epstein’s abuse, and the casual disregard shown towards his victims, but in the tone of some of the correspondence now in the public domain. The suggestion that Mandelson was providing Epstein with commentary on sensitive political developments during the fraught period surrounding the 2010 general election, alongside allegations of sharing potentially market-sensitive material and receiving money, has been particularly damaging.
These revelations sit uneasily with Labour’s attempts to project integrity and seriousness after years of Conservative scandal. They also reopen long-standing concerns about Mandelson’s judgement, concerns that were well known during his earlier Cabinet career, but which now carry far heavier consequences given the role he was asked to play on the world stage.
The political danger for Starmer is compounded by the perception that this controversy was avoidable. Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein was already on the record when the ambassadorial appointment was made. Critics argue that failing to anticipate how further disclosures might land reflects a broader pattern of miscalculation that has frustrated Labour MPs and unsettled supporters.
At the same time, there is a striking contrast between the scrutiny now facing the UK government and the relative lack of accountability for many prominent American figures named in the Epstein files. That imbalance has fuelled a sense of injustice and disbelief, particularly among Labour supporters who fear their party is paying a disproportionate political price.
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The timing could hardly be worse. With elections looming and opinion polls offering little comfort, the government is grappling with a restless parliamentary party and a Downing Street operation that many MPs privately describe as error-prone and overly defensive. The Epstein-Mandelson affair has become a focal point for wider discontent about direction, competence and political instincts.
For Labour veterans, the disappointment is acute. After a landslide victory that promised stability and renewal, the government now finds itself firefighting a crisis that cuts to the core of trust in public life. External pressures – from a harsher media environment to geopolitical instability, undoubtedly make governing harder than in previous eras. But they do not explain why unforced errors continue to accumulate.
The deeper question is whether this moment marks a turning point or a slow-burning erosion of authority. Can the government regain control of the narrative, reassert clear ethical standards and restore confidence among its own ranks? Or does the Epstein affair expose structural weaknesses in Labour’s leadership and decision-making that will continue to surface?
As police inquiries progress and political pressure mounts, one thing is clear: this story will not fade quickly. It will shape how voters, investors and international partners assess the judgement and resilience of the current government. And for a party that returned to power promising higher standards, the stakes could hardly be higher.
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Alastair Campbell
Alastair Campbell is a writer, broadcaster and political strategist, best known as former Director of Communications and Strategy for UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. He is the co-host of the hit podcast The Rest Is Politics with Rory Stewart, one of the UK’s most-listened-to political podcasts. Watch or listen to The Rest Is Politics, wherever you get your podcasts.
Alysa Liu stands as one of figure skating’s most remarkable stories — a prodigy turned retiree turned world champion. Here are 10 essential facts about the 20-year-old American sensation eyeing Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic gold.
Alysa Liu
1. Youngest U.S. women’s champion ever — at just 13
Liu shattered records at the 2019 U.S. Championships in Detroit, becoming the youngest women’s senior national champion in history at age 13 years, 8 months. She placed second in the short program before dominating the free skate, landing three triple Axels — the first U.S. woman to do so at nationals. The feat broke Tara Lipinski’s previous age record and marked her as a generational talent.
2. Back-to-back U.S. titles at 14 — first since Ashley Wagner
In 2020, Liu defended her title in Greensboro, becoming the first American woman to win consecutive senior nationals since Ashley Wagner (2012-13). She set a national scoring record of 235.52 points and became the first U.S. woman to land a quad Lutz at championships. At 14, Liu also joined Mirai Nagasu as the first to sweep junior and senior titles back-to-back.
3. First woman EVER to land quad Lutz + triple Axel in one program
During her 2019 junior Grand Prix USA win in Lake Placid, Liu made history as the first female skater worldwide to complete both a quadruple Lutz and triple Axel in the same program. She also notched the first ratified quad Lutz by an American woman and the first triple Axel-triple toe in a senior short program. These technical milestones redefined women’s jumping standards.
4. Shocking retirement at 16 after Worlds bronze
After earning bronze at the 2022 World Championships in Montpellier — the first U.S. women’s Worlds medal since Ashley Wagner’s 2016 silver — Liu stunned the sport by retiring at age 16 in April 2022. “I honestly never thought I’d accomplish as much as I did,” she said, enrolling at UCLA in fall 2023. The decision followed Beijing 2022’s sixth-place Olympic finish and Worlds success.
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5. Epic comeback: World gold in 2025, first for U.S. woman in 19 years
Liu returned for the 2024-25 season and dominated, winning the 2025 World Championships in Boston — the first U.S. women’s world title since Kimmie Meissner in 2006. Her comeback path included second at U.S. Nationals, Grand Prix Final gold (2025-26), and four Challenger Series titles. She called it “improbable,” inspired by a skiing trip friend’s encouragement.
6. Olympic debut: 6th place in Beijing 2022
Liu’s senior international debut came at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, where she placed sixth — best among U.S. women — despite jumping challenges. The result qualified her for Worlds bronze weeks later, launching her senior medal haul.
7. Junior phenom: JGP Final silver, world junior bronze
As a junior, Liu won two straight JGP events (Lake Placid, Poland), took silver at the 2019-20 JGP Final behind Kamila Valieva, and bronze at 2020 Worlds Junior Championships. She led the 2021-22 ISU Challenger Series standings by nearly 40 points over Anastasia Gubanova.
8. Technical pioneer: Redefined women’s jumping
Liu pioneered jumps now standard: first American woman with quad Lutz (2019 Aurora Games), first with triple Axel-double toe at U.S. Nationals short program, and youngest with clean triple Axel internationally (2018 Asian Open, age 12). Her free skate records include highest TES (83.94, 2019 JGP Poland) and PCS (72.27, 2025 Worlds Team Trophy).
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9. Life off ice: UCLA student, Everest Base Camp climber
During retirement, Liu climbed Mount Everest Base Camp (17,598 ft), pursued photography, and started at UCLA. She returned selectively choosing costumes, music and programs, embracing creative control post-hiatus. Liu credits the break for maturity fueling her world title.
10. Milano Cortina 2026 gold favorite
Now 20, Liu enters the 2026 Winter Olympics as America’s top medal hope, blending senior experience with prodigy technique. Her 2025-26 Grand Prix Final win, three GP medals and world gold position her for podium contention in Milano Cortina. CBS’s 60 Minutes profiled her “improbable comeback” ahead of the Games.
Career Highlights
Achievement
Year(s)
U.S. Champion
2x
2019, 2020
World Champion
1x
2025
World Bronze
1x
2022
GP Final Champion
1x
2025-26
Olympics
6th
2022
JGP Wins
2x
2019
From 13-year-old phenom to world champion comeback queen, Alysa Liu’s journey captivates — technical wizardry, resilience and maturity positioning her for Olympic immortality.
The Carlyle Group Inc. (CG) Q4 2025 Earnings Call February 6, 2026 8:30 AM EST
Company Participants
Daniel Harris – Head of Public Investor Relations Harvey Schwartz – CEO & Director Justin Plouffe – Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
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Alexander Blostein – Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division Glenn Schorr – Evercore ISI Institutional Equities, Research Division Michael Brown – UBS Investment Bank, Research Division William Katz – TD Cowen, Research Division Patrick Davitt – Autonomous Research US LP Steven Chubak – Wolfe Research, LLC Brian Mckenna – Citizens JMP Securities, LLC, Research Division Benjamin Budish – Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division Kenneth Worthington – JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division Michael Cyprys – Morgan Stanley, Research Division
Presentation
Operator
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Good day, and welcome to the Carlyle Group Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this call may be recorded.
I would now like to turn the call over to Daniel Harris, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Daniel Harris Head of Public Investor Relations
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Thank you, Michelle. Good morning, and welcome to Carlyle’s Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Earnings Call. With me on the call this morning is our Chief Executive Officer, Harvey Schwartz; and our Chief Financial Officer, Justin Plouffe. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release and a detailed earnings presentation, which is available on our Investor Relations website. This call is being webcast and a replay will be available.
We will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures during today’s call. These measures should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. We have provided a reconciliation of these measures to GAAP in our earnings release to the extent reasonably available.
Any forward-looking statements made today do not guarantee future performance and undue reliance should not be
All right. Good afternoon from a snowy Sweden on this cold February day. So welcome to this meeting. We will run an HMS investor briefing for about an hour. And we’ve been doing this a couple of times. We’ve had a — sometimes we have a pretty high demand for one-to-one meetings, and we don’t have really the time to take all of them. So instead, we do these briefings where we take a few people together and talk about the company.
This is primarily for you who are fairly new to HMS. So I will do like maybe a 20-minute introduction. I will cover the financials for 2025 briefly as well. And then we will open up for Q&A for the rest of the session. And we — so we have 1 hour in total and feel free to ask questions after a while. So for the first part, you will be on mute and then I will open up for you to be able to ask questions.
So I will start with the presentation, and we will then run this introduction, financial summary and then Q&A.
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So HMS, we have today since reorganization since a year ago, we have now 3 divisions in the business. We’re in the Industrial ICT business, Industrial Information and Communication Technology. If we start with the first division, the Industrial Data Solutions, which is about 46% of our sales in 2025, we have a pretty wide offer within connecting, secure and diagnose your Industrial Data Solutions and also visualize the content. And we do this through remote access and remote data as we call it. So you can actually
Consumer sentiment got a better-than-expected start to February as Americans’ inflation expectations edged lower.
The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index came in at a reading of 57.3 for February, according to preliminary results released Friday. Economists polled by FactSet were expecting the index to dip to a reading of 54.3 from January’s 56.4.
Inflation expectations for the year ahead fell to 3.5% in February from 4% in January, marking the lowest reading since January 2025.
